The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-03-29
A GROWING CUSTOM.
Extent Of the Adoption OF Cremation
In New York.
Opposition in Religious and sentI-
mental Grounds.

New York Post
The earliest American advocate Of crema-
tion who believed in practice as well as
preaching seems to have been Col Henry
Laurens Of South Carolina, whose body was
formally burned, in accordance with his di-
rections, in 1874 From that time until the
building Of the Lemoyne crematory at Wash
ington, Pa, there are records OF the burning
Oh eight persons, the most notable incineration
Oh the list being that Of the body OF DIR.
Chas +. Winslow at Salt Lake City in 1876.
Ihe New York Cremation Society. which
was organized and Incorporated March. 1881
had Tor its original object the dissemination
OF correct knowledge respecting the disposal
OF the dead by incineration. II was an out
growth OF the popular discussion Of the suo-
Ject which began in 1874, and enlisted the
cooperation Of such men as Courtlandt Pal
mer, the Rev. John d. BengIiss of the
United States Navy, Felix Adler, and James
b. Brown. At the time the Society was or
ganized there were only four crematories In
existence-one at Milan. one at Padua. one It
Gotha, and one at Washington, Pa. The
total number Of incinerations did not exceed
100, Of which $50 had been at Milan. The
growth OF the movement since then Is evil
dence that, Notwithstanding opposition, the
arguments used by the theoretic cremation.
lists OF 1874 have found as wide favor here AZ
those Of the earlier advocates Of the practice
in the Old World. In Europe TODAY there
are more than dozen crematories, CoDen-
hagen, Paris, Florence, Rome, Dresden.
Brussels, and some smaller cities havlng
societies which have put theory into practice
In this country there are active cremation
societies IN Newark, Chicago, Detroit, Pitts
burg, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Los
Angeles, but as yet only four crematories for
pubic use have been built--those at Fresh
Pond, East New York, having cost more than
$4,000, and as In small cities the number Of
persons ready to embark In the movement n
never large, 1t has been no easy matter 10
nnd money Tor what must oryears be an un-
productive investment
Although the real work Of the New York
Crematory began on December T. 1885, when
the body OF Eugene Lievre, German, was
burned, experiments in burning animals be-
gah IN september Since the ineinerati0n Of
LleYre sixty-one persons have been eremated
at Fresh Pond; nine Of the number were
women, and the ages varied from nine months
70 elghty-six years. There were 30 Germans
q Americans, Englishmen. I Scotchman,
lrlshman, SWISS, ffenchmen, l Austrian
and Hungarian. During the first month
that the cremat0ry was Opsn 10 the public
there were crematiOns, during the second
month 6,the third month Z, the fourth month
~, tine NTH month Q, the. sixth month 10
the seventh August month s. The method
adopted at Fresh Pond, as already freanent
ly described, Is to place the body In reffrt.
which Is then heated to a white heat. running
up to 2,5OO'. Actual fame does not touch
t the p9ody, wnich gradually gives of its COM
DustlOle part In the shape Of gases that burn
upon reaching the Ere. The agent Of the
society In this city recently said 10 the writer:
we nave as yet met with no criticism which
need cause us anxiety. The objections now
urged more and more family against the new
practice are the old ones brought forward he
fore we began. They are first that In cases
wnere death has resulted from poison All
trace Of the agent Is removed (seeond) that
cIemat0n Is 'heathenish and barbarian;
Unlrd) that II will be impossible 20 dispose of
all the dead by cremation; fourth that the
practice Is incompatible with a belief In the
resurrection. The first objection Is the onlv
one to which we feel called upon to answer
at length. 1t Is true that traces Of poison
will be destroyed, but the argument h NOT
against cremation, but in favor OF careful
autopsy before cremation, In any doubtful
case. All non-vOlatile mineral pOlsons, such
as arsenic; however, would remain in the
ashes, ana would be more readily detected
than in the dead body itself. We cremate no
BODY without the regular permit Of the
Board OF Health, and In addition. the eertif-
cate OF death from reputable physician.
4 4 nose VINO mold that cremation Is irreligious
nave surely never realized that il rs sinrrfV--
doing IN two hours by fire what nature does
IN tne course OF years by accommodation
One Is quick combustion, the other slow.
Ine more constantly a cIematory is in use
the cheaper Is the process, and Paris. upon
sanitary and economic grounds, has lust
nnlshed four erematories In the Pere la Chaise
Cemetery for the burning of all paupers'
bodies. The fnrnaces-eon mon
plans OF MAI. Barrett and Formice-have
the appearance Of very elegant ovens they
cost $4,000. The system Of ineineration Is
that adopted at Milan. and the charge for
persons who wish TO pay is fifteen francs.
Seulptors and art-workers are already en-
gagged upon designs for urns in marble.
bronze, silver. zinc or lead, which can be
taken away by the friends Of the dead person
or placed in vaults which the city of Paris il
to erect for the purpose.
"Ihe charge Of S25 made for incinerating
body at Fresh Pond does not OF course.
cover the expense we are now at; when two
cremati0ns occur one after another, the cost
Is reduced one-third, and with several ere
nations day the work would be self-sus-
tanning. Our directors and stockholders are
content at present to pay for conferring
what they deem a great blessing upon the
community. SO long as earth burial re-
mains in vogue there will be the same sense
less funeral expenses. We have as yet no
most people put the ashes Of their dead, and
they are taken away sometimes TO be buried
In the family burial plot, sometimes to be pre-
served at home. We sell earthenware urns
" hsetu6 ucolSu, lof u IcW collars, ANA some
times designs are made 10 order. One gem
tleman had an iron vase made, the lower
part containing the ashes of the dead per-
son Theoretically sealed up, while flowers
were grown In the upper part"
1t thus appears that while cremation Is
making headway. finding liberation where
twenty years ago the proposal would have
been received with horror, its advocates adj
NIT that the introduction of cremat0ries Is
likely to be slow for the present The
building of such furnaces cannot yet be re-
garded as a profitable business enterprise,
and the first years experience OF the New
York Cremation Company Is not likely to
encourage other societies 10 build.
At recent meeting of the French Acade-
my Nj. Sidot showed a number Of glass arti-
ri de Parville suggested that the phosphate
OF lime TO which bone ashes can easily be
reduced may be formed into q medallion or
statuStte OF the person from whose body the
material was derived. Such articles are In
hy fima or aeida